180 Comments

The whole "this must have been what Germany felt like in 1933" take is usually overdone and overstated, but f**k me this really is what it must have been like. Getting real sick of living in "interesting times"

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Oct 17, 2022·edited Oct 17, 2022

Here's what I worry about:

Today's GOP is executing a united, cohesive, strategic plan across Republican states and at the federal level, which will take away our rights, freedoms, and democracy. On our side, we have unaffiliated, disparate groups sounding the alarm, and when we ask what we can do, we're told to VOTE (and donate time and money).

While that is good advice and all of us should, it falls short because many of the semi-fascist election deniers on the ballot across the country are in safe district and will win. It's likely that the GOP will retake the majority in the House, and it's still not certain that the Democrats will hold the Senate. It is becoming more clear that many of our institutions (Secret Service, FBI, DOJ, DHS, and Military) are rife with those who support the semi-fascist side.

It feels to me that the pro-democracy side is always 5 steps behind the pro-fascist side. Someone, somewhere, should try bringing our side together with its own cohesive, national strategy before it is too late. It took a world war in the 1940's to defeat the fascists. There will be no war to save us from ourselves. We have to do it from within. How? When? Voting is damned important, but it is NOT ENOUGH. What else should we be doing?

Who is going to show some leadership and start answering that question?

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How divorced from reality do you have to be to believe your school district is letting children shit in open boxes? Seriously. Maybe these women should get off social media and actually talk to their kids.

There aren't just political ramifications to believing something so stupid. How do you believe this and hold down a job, or successfully raise kids, or interact with your neighbors in any normal fashion? How can anyone function with such credulity? And then these credulous people are directed to channel their outrage and anger onto certain individuals or institutions. It's mass disseminated delusion.

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The Erick Ericksons of the world, who wanted Romney to "rise to the occasion" and endorse a fellow Republican, are even more exposed as whores because the Democrats in Utah made this easy for them. The Dems gave them Evan McMullin as an alternative to Mike Lee. Not Mandela Barnes, not some acolyte of Bernie Sanders, not even a clone of Abigail Spanberger. They gave them a guy who is basically a conservative, except he's not a Trump ass kisser. I imagine for Mitt Romney this wasn't even a tough call, because I don't think Evan is that different from Mitt. Mike Lee, though, is very different from Mitt, and there are text messages to prove it.

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There is a group called Pussy Riot that has protested and been jailed for over a decade. There main protest is the cohesion between Church and State. One of their original protests was in the main halls of the orthodox church in Moscow. Using the church to weaponize believers is nothing new. What is knew is the believers synergy of symbolism. Driving down the street, a flag draped over the cross with a machine gun adorning the bottom. An expensive wrap around an even more expensive truck. The Virgin Mary carrying a bazooka is not a far stretch. You could probably google one now. Madison warned us. Jesus Warned us. Separate your church from your stated or your church will be guilty of all deifications.

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I think the media is mainly baffled by courage from an office-holding Republican. See Sarah's excellent story. And as for the "sources," they of course don't WANT to understand moral courage when they themselves have none.

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Mitt is operating on a set of principles. I appreciate that he is putting country over party. I think his comments re: Jan 6 are very clear and direct. I find it disappointing that this seems to be frustrating to some people. They have become so used to words not having meaning and people saying whatever nonsense they want since they are not held to account, that they can't seem to comprehend Mitt's position.

Re: Trump's tweet - Israel can have him as their PM.

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Everyone at the Bulwark, Wapo, NYT, Democratic leadership and pro-democracy organizations answer me this: Why are we so ill-equipped to defeat a fascist take-over from within?

Someone somewhere should start addressing that single, overriding question because we are NOT winning this battle.

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The whole furry fakery shows that conservatives see transgender people as subhuman. It's very enlightening when they drop the facade of decency

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For those who would like to understand more about Putin’s perverse use of religion to justify his war against Ukraine, listen to Professor Timothy Snyder’s guest lecture at U of Connecticut on October 12, 2022. He intertwines the actual, not false, history of Russia and Ukraine with Putin’s misuse of religion and lessons about fascism. It’s very enlightening.

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Does Mike Lee think going Carlson’s hour of hate and begging for the endorsement (and cash) is going to get him anything other than ridicule? Thanks, Mike. I’m enjoying it.

Has Evan McMullin publicly begged for an endorsement?

The mob that would’ve killed Romney if they’d caught him was instigated by Lee and Trump among others.

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Imagine my dismay as I was relaying Tim's furry piece to someone dear to me and laughing about the details only to be responded to with a "well I think there are litter boxes..."

Satan save us all.

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Awww... Mike Lee had a "Please clap" moment. Poor baby.

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Is the furry panic a thing anyone under 40 falls for? As someone who's had internet access since early adolescence and known that furries were a thing for nearly two decades, it strikes me as a really weird thing to morally panic over.

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Mitt, has shown passive support for democracy and has passively denounce Trump. What Mitt has not done is raise is voice in support of the American Experiment and the Constitution. He has not denounced the election deniers in his own party or come out in support of the work done by the January 6th committee. Mitt is so concerned about keeping his Senate seat that he has forgotten his oath he took in office to faithfully defend the Constitution. When Mitt and other Republicans do that, then I will be able to pull the lever for the Republican Party I once supported.

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Oct 17, 2022·edited Oct 17, 2022

I don't like Mitt Romney for a number of reasons. That said, is it really such a mystery why Romney won't endorse Lee? There are any number of possible peripheral reasons, perhaps. And I certainly could be wrong here. But I expect the main one boils down to this: The Big Lie.

Not The Big Lie vis a vie the 2020 election, but an even bigger lie. Actually, The Biggest Lie of All. Which is the one that *all* the people who promote or enable or endorse through their silence the anti-democratic, un-American lie that is *all things Donald Trump* tell to themselves, despite themselves knowing the truth in their heart of hearts, thereby allowing themselves to believe the nation will be just fine despite all this dangerous, noxious and evil shit. This is, after all, just the way we do *politics* now, right?

Considering his votes to convict Trump in not one but two impeachment trials, despite whatever other flaws he may have, I guess Mitt's just not willing to take the plunge and go all in on lying to himself, party loyalty or not.

I'd like to say that I respect him for this. But while I'm appreciative of it, I can't attach the word respect to it and actually mean it. *Not* lying to oneself is a rather low bar for earning respect in my book.

But, if he were to climb down the ladder from the tightrope he's walking, plant his feet solidly on the floor of this three-ring circus we currently call our politics and open his mouth and endorse Evan McMullin as the Democrats have and help defeat that sycophantic and untrustworthy son of a bitch that's a member of Romney's own party, the consequences be damned, then I could actually use the word *respect*. And mean it.

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